JP2019114458A - Signal transmission system and electrical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a signal transmission system and an electrical connector capable of improving the freedom of arrangement of parts in a device to be mounted.SOLUTION: A signal transmission system 1 includes a plate-like wiring member 2 and an electrical connector 3 for connecting the wiring member 2 to a circuit board 4. An arc or annular electrode is provided at the end of the wiring member 2. The electrical connector 3 includes a housing and a contact. The housing is an insulating member mounted on the circuit board 4 and rotatably holding the wiring member 2 around the center of an imaginary circle along the shape of the electrode. The contact is a conductive member configured to be fixed to the housing, provided with a board connection portion connected to the signal electrode of the circuit board 4 and a contact portion coming in contact with the electrode of the wiring member 2 held by the housing, and apply an elastic force to press the electrode by the contact portion.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a signal transmission system and an electrical connector.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a connector device including an insulating housing having a member accommodating portion forming a recess, and an actuator attached to the insulating housing in a cantilevered manner so as to be openable and closable. In this connector device, the flexible substrate accommodated in the member accommodating portion is held by being sandwiched between the insulating housing and the actuator.

Patent 5545440

  In the connector device disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the held flexible substrate is locked to the protruding portion provided on the insulating housing, so that the direction of the flexible substrate is fixed to the connector device. . When the direction of the flexible substrate is fixed, the range in which the flexible substrate can be handled is limited. For this reason, the degree of freedom in the arrangement of parts in the device on which the connector device and the flexible substrate are mounted is subject to design constraints.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a signal transmission system and an electrical connector capable of improving the degree of freedom of arrangement of components in a device to be mounted.

In order to achieve the above object, a signal transmission system according to a first aspect of the present invention is:
A signal transmission system comprising: a plate-like wiring member; and an electrical connector for connecting the wiring member to a circuit board,
An arc or annular electrode is provided at an end of the wiring member,
The electrical connector is
An insulating housing mounted on the circuit board and rotatably holding the wiring member around the center of a virtual circle along the shape of the electrodes;
A substrate connection portion fixed to the housing and connected to the signal electrode of the circuit board and a contact portion contacting the electrode of the wiring member held by the housing are provided, and the contact portion elastically presses the electrode A conductive contact configured to apply a force;
Equipped with

In this case, in the wiring member, a plurality of the electrodes arranged concentrically are formed.
The electrical connector is provided with a plurality of the contacts which press and contact the individual electrodes one-on-one,
You may do it.

Further, the plurality of contacts are arranged in a straight line passing through the rotation center of the wiring member, with a longitudinal direction orthogonal to the straight line.
You may do it.

In the plurality of contacts, the contact portions are disposed in a distributed manner in order of proximity to the rotation center of the wiring member with reference to the rotation center.
You may do it.

When the circuit board is viewed from the wiring member, in the adjacent contacts, the contacts are disposed such that the substrate connection portions are located on opposite sides of the contact portion.
You may do it.

The wiring member
A reinforcing plate is provided to reinforce an end provided with the electrode.
You may do it.

The wiring member is provided with a through hole at the center of a virtual circle along the shape of the electrode,
The housing is
A mounting table on which the wiring member is mounted in a state of facing the surface on which the electrode is provided;
A columnar protrusion which protrudes from the mounting table and is engaged with the through hole of the wiring member and whose height protruding from the mounting table is larger than the thickness of the wiring member including the reinforcing plate;
Equipped with
The contact portion of the contact protrudes from the mounting table and presses the electrode of the wiring member to make contact.
The projecting portion is provided with a detachment preventing portion which prevents the through hole from coming off the projecting portion.
You may do it.

Further, the contact portion of the contact is formed with a curved surface bent in a tangential direction of the electrode of the wiring member.
You may do it.

An electrical connector according to a second aspect of the present invention is
An electrical connector for connecting, to a circuit board, a plate-like wiring member provided with arc-shaped or ring-shaped electrodes at its end.
An insulating housing mounted on the circuit board and rotatably holding the wiring member around the center of a virtual circle along the shape of the electrodes;
A substrate connection portion fixed to the housing and connected to the signal electrode of the circuit board and a contact portion contacting the electrode of the wiring member held by the housing are provided, and the contact portion elastically presses the electrode A conductive contact configured to apply a force;
Equipped with

  According to the present invention, since the electrical connector connecting the circuit board and the wiring member can rotatably hold the wiring member, the range in which the wiring member can be arranged can be expanded. As a result, the degree of freedom in the arrangement of parts including the electrical connector and the wiring member in the mounted device can be improved.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a signal transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the signal transmission system as viewed from below with the substrate removed. FIG. 2A is a bottom view of the wiring member. FIG. 2B is a top view of the wiring member. FIG. 3A is a perspective view showing the configuration of the electrical connector that constitutes the signal transmission system. FIG. 3 (B) is a top view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3 (A). FIG. 4A is a front view of the signal transmission system. FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. It is a figure which shows the contact state (the 1) of the contact part of a contact, and the electrode of a wiring member. It is a figure which shows the contact state (the 2) of the contact part of a contact, and the electrode of a wiring member. It is a figure which shows a mode that a wiring member rotates. It is a top view which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of an electrical connector and a wiring member. It is a top view which shows the modification of an electrical connector.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In all the drawings, the same or corresponding components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a signal transmission system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a plate-like wiring member 2 and an electrical connector 3 for connecting the wiring member 2 to a circuit board 4. And. The signal transmission system 1 is provided to transmit a signal between the wiring member 2 and the circuit board 4 via the electrical connector 3.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, at the end of the wiring member 2, four annular electrodes 2a are provided. The plurality of electrodes 2a are arranged concentrically. The center of the shape of the electrode 2a is a point O, and the distances (radius) to the center lines of the electrodes 2a are r1, r2, r3, and r4. The width of each electrode 2a is a width which does not contact each other.

  The wiring member 2 is provided with a circular through hole 2c having the same center as the center of the imaginary circle along the shape of the electrode 2a. That is, the through hole 2c is also concentric with the four electrodes 2a.

  The wiring member 2 has a multilayer structure, and four signal lines 2b are disposed in an inner layer (intermediate layer). The signal lines 2 b extend in the longitudinal direction of the wiring member 2 and are lines for transmitting signals in the wiring member 2. Each electrode 2a is connected to the end of the signal line 2b extending in the longitudinal direction via the through hole 2d. As a result, in the wiring member 2, the electrodes 2 a, the through holes 2 d, and the transmission lines of the signals following the signal line 2 b are formed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, the wiring member 2 is provided with a reinforcing plate 2e that reinforces the end portion provided with the electrode 2a. The reinforcing plate 2 e is, for example, an insulating member such as a resin, and has a thickness that does not cause bending. As a result, the end of the wiring member 2 can be smoothly rotated without bending. The reinforcing plate 2e may be, for example, a conductive member such as a metal plate.

  The electrical connector 3 includes a housing 10 and four contacts 11 as shown in FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B).

  The housing 10 is an insulating member (for example, a resin member) which is mounted on the circuit board 4 and rotatably holds the wiring member 2 around the center of an imaginary circle along the shape of the electrode 2a. The housing 10 includes a mounting table 20 and a protrusion 21.

  The mounting table 20 is a rectangular solid member and has a rectangular bottom surface. The bottom surface of the mounting table 20 is attached to the circuit board 4. The wiring member 2 is mounted on the top surface of the mounting table 20. In the present embodiment, the longitudinal direction of the mounting table 20 is the x-axis direction, and in the in-plane direction of the mounting surface of the circuit board 4, the direction orthogonal to the x-axis is the y-axis direction. The orthogonal direction is defined as the z-axis direction.

  The protrusion 21 is a cylindrical member that protrudes from the center of the upper surface of the rectangular flat mounting table 20. The wiring member 2 is mounted on the mounting table 20 in a state in which the surface on which the electrode 2 a is provided faces the mounting table 20. The through hole 2 c of the wiring member 2 is fitted into the protrusion 21. For this reason, the diameter of the protrusion 21 is the same as the diameter of the through hole 2c (the diameter of the protrusion 21 is slightly smaller in consideration of the tolerance).

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the top surface of the protrusion 21 (see FIG. 3A) is provided with a removal prevention portion 22 for preventing the wiring member 2 from coming off the protrusion 21. In the present embodiment, the removal prevention portion 22 includes a bolt 22a and a washer 22b. A screw hole 21 a (see FIG. 3A) extending in the z-axis direction is provided on the top surface of the protrusion 21. The bolt 22a is fitted into the screw hole 21a via the washer 22b, and the wiring member 2 is prevented from being detached from the protrusion 21 by the washer 22b.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, the threaded portion of the bolt 22a largely protrudes from the bottom of the housing 10. The bolt 22a is also screwed into the screw hole of the circuit board 4 (see FIG. 3A), and the circuit board 4, the electrical connector 3 and the wiring member 2 can be collectively fixed by the bolt 22a.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, the height H of the protrusion 21 protruding from the mounting table 20 is larger than the thickness D of the wiring member 2 including the reinforcing plate 2e. As shown in FIG. 4A, the difference between the height H of the protrusion 21 projecting from the upper surface of the mounting table 20 and the thickness D of the wiring member 2 is represented by d.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the mounting table 20 is provided with four grooves 20a extending in the x-axis direction. The contacts 11 are press-fitted and fixed to the four grooves 20a, respectively.

  The contact 11 is a conductive member (for example, a metal member) fixed to the housing 10. As shown in FIGS. 4 (B) and 4 (C), the shape of the contact 11 is an elongated plate, and is fixed to the housing 10 in a state of being bent halfway. The contact 11 is provided at one end thereof with a board connection portion 11a connected to the signal electrode 4a of the circuit board 4 and at the other end is provided with a contact portion 11b for coming into contact with the electrode 2a of the wiring member 2 held by the housing 10. It is done.

  The contact 11 is configured such that an elastic force for pressing the electrode 2 a by the contact portion 11 b is applied in the vertical direction. Specifically, the contact 11 is formed with a bottom portion 11c and an oblique portion 11d, and is bent between them. The bottom side portion 11c is fixed to the lower portion of the housing 10, and the oblique side portion 11d extends obliquely upward away from the lower portion of the housing 10 as being away from the bottom side portion 11c.

  The contact portion 11b of the contact 11 is provided at the tip of the oblique side 11d, and can move in the vertical direction along with the movement of the oblique side 11d. The contact portion 11 b protrudes from the upper surface of the mounting table 20, contacts the electrode 2 a of the wiring member 2, and presses the same.

  The height of the contact portion 11 b needs to be set higher than the difference d between the height H of the protrusion 21 protruding from the upper surface of the mounting table 20 and the thickness D of the wiring member 2. In this way, the contact 11 can maintain the pressure contact state with the electrode 2 a of the wiring member 2 by its elastic force.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the contact portion 11 b of the contact 11 is formed with a curved surface bent in the tangential direction of the electrode 2 a of the wiring member 2. Thereby, the sliding resistance generated between the contact portion 11b and the electrode 2a can be reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, in the contact portions 11b of the plurality of contacts 11, groove portions 11ba are formed in the tangential direction of the electrodes 2a in contact. Thereby, the sliding resistance generated between the contact portion 11b and the electrode 2a can be reduced.

  The four contacts 11 are pressed into contact with the individual electrodes 2a one by one. As shown in FIG. 3B, the contacts 11 extend in the x-axis direction from the reference point P in the x-axis direction at distances r1, r2, r3, and r4 as in the case of the electrodes 2a of the wiring member 2. It is arranged as.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the plurality of contacts 11 are arranged in a direction in which the longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the straight line L on the straight line L passing through the rotation center of the wiring member 2. Further, in the plurality of contacts 11, the contact portions 11 b are distributed in the order of proximity to the rotation center O (see FIG. 2A) of the wiring member 2 with the rotation center O as a reference.

  Further, when the circuit board 4 is viewed from the wiring member 2, the plurality of contacts 11 are arranged such that the substrate connection portion 11 a is located on the opposite side to the contact portion 11 b between the adjacent contacts 11. There is. Thereby, with respect to the reference point P, the four substrate connection portions 11a can be separately disposed on the + y side and the −y side.

  Next, the operation of the signal transmission system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the wiring member 2 is rotatable 360 degrees around the end. Here, for the advantage of making the wiring member 2 rotatable, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, two electrical connectors 3 (here, electrical connectors 3A and 3B) are mounted on the circuit board 4 Description will be made with reference to the case of wiring. One end of the wiring member 2 is connected to the electrical connector 3A, and the other end of the wiring member 2 is connected to the electrical connector 3B.

  Since the wiring member 2 is rotatable, the mounting position on the circuit board 4 of the electrical connector 3B is arbitrary with respect to the electrical connector 3A. In FIG. 8, for example, mounting the electrical connector 3B at three positions on the circuit board 4 is shown.

  Further, according to this signal transmission system 1, the wiring member 2 can be rotated even when the relative position of the electrical connectors 3A and 3B changes in the mounted device. Etc. can be prevented.

  In this case, since the height H of the protrusion 21 from the upper surface of the mounting table 20 is higher than the thickness D of the wiring member 2 including the reinforcing plate 2 e, the wiring member 2 is restrained upward by the contact portion 11 b of the contact 11 It is easy to turn while being Further, the contact portion 11 b of the contact 11 has a curved surface bent in the tangential direction of the electrode 2 a of the wiring member 2. Thereby, the frictional resistance between the electrode 2a and the contact portion 11b generated when the wiring member 2 rotates can be minimized. In this way, the wiring member 2 can be smoothly rotated, and wear of the electrode 2a and the contact 11 can be reduced.

  Further, in the present embodiment, in the housing 10, in the contact portions 11b of the plurality of contacts 11, the groove portion 11ba is formed in the tangential direction of the electrode 2a. In this way, the contact area between the contact portion 11b and the electrode 2a can be reduced, and the deviation of the contact position between the contact portion 11b and the electrode 2a can be reduced.

  As described above in detail, according to the present embodiment, since the electrical connector 3 connecting the circuit board 4 and the wiring member 2 can rotatably hold the wiring member 2, the wiring member 2 can be handled. The range can be expanded. As a result, it is possible to improve the degree of freedom of arrangement of components including the electrical connector 3 and the wiring member 2 (for example, mounted components on the circuit board 4) in the mounted device.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, in the wiring member 2, a plurality of concentrically arranged electrodes 2 a are formed, and in the electrical connector 3, a plurality of contacts 11 are provided which press and contact each electrode 2 a in a one-to-one manner. It is done. In this way, a plurality of signals can be transmitted at one time.

  In the present embodiment, the number of annular electrodes 2a is four, but the present invention is not limited to this. The number of electrodes 2a may be at least one. The number of contacts 11 provided on the electrical connector 3 is a number corresponding to the number of the electrodes 2a.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the plurality of contacts 11 are arranged on the straight line L passing through the rotation center of the wiring member 2 in a direction in which the longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the straight line L. In this way, since the arrangement of the plurality of contacts 11 can be made compact, the entire electrical connector 3 can be miniaturized.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the plurality of contacts 11 are arranged such that the contact portions 11 b are dispersed in the order from the rotation center of the wiring member 2 based on the rotation center. In this way, the contact portion 11b of the contact 11 can support the wiring member 2 in a well-balanced manner.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, when the circuit board 4 is viewed from the wiring member 2, the contacts 11 adjacent to each other are arranged such that the substrate connection portion 11a is located on the opposite side to the contact portion 11b. 11 are arranged. In this way, the contact portion 11b can be dispersed in the circumferential direction with respect to the rotation center O of the end portion of the wiring member 2, so that the contact portion 11b can support the wiring member 2 in a well-balanced manner. .

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the wiring member 2 is provided with the reinforcing plate 2e for reinforcing the end portion provided with the electrode 2a. In this way, the wiring member 2 can be rotated smoothly. However, the present invention is not limited to this. If the wiring member 2 is sufficiently robust, it is not necessary to provide the reinforcing plate 2e.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, in the wiring member 2, the through hole 2c is provided at the center of the virtual circle along the shape of the electrode 2a, and the housing 10 faces the surface provided with the electrode 2a. The mounting table 20 on which the wiring member 2 is mounted, and a columnar protrusion 21 which protrudes from the mounting table 20 and is fitted to the through hole 2 c of the wiring member 2 are provided. With such a configuration, it is possible to provide a structure capable of rotating the wiring member 2 connected to the circuit board 4 while keeping the contact 11 in contact with the electrode 2 a of the wiring member 2.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the screw hole 21a is provided on the upper surface of the projecting portion 21, and the bolt 22a and the washer 22b prevent the wiring member 2 from coming off. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A specially manufactured cap screwed into the screw hole 21a of the projecting portion 21 may be used as the dropout prevention portion 22 instead of the bolt 22a and the washer 22b.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the height of the protrusion from the mounting table 20 is made larger than the thickness of the wiring member 2 including the reinforcing plate 2 e, and the contact portion 11 b of the contact 11 is protruded from the mounting table 20. The electrode 2a of the wiring member 2 was pressed and contacted. In this way, when the wiring member 2 is rotated, the resistance to the rotation can be reduced as much as possible while the contact 11 and the electrode 2a are joined.

  In the present embodiment, the upper surface of the mounting table 20 has a rectangular shape, but the present invention is not limited to this. The shape of the upper surface of the mounting table 20 may be square.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the mounting table 20 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, but the present invention is not limited to this. The shape of the mounting table 20 may be cylindrical. In this case, the shape of the upper surface of the mounting table 20 is circular.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the some contact 11 was arrange | positioned in parallel in the housing 10, respectively, this invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the plurality of contacts 11 may be arranged radially with respect to the protrusion 21. The contact portion 11 b can be dispersed also by this configuration.

  In the present embodiment, the electrodes 2a of the wiring member 2 are annular, but may be arcs. It is desirable that the central angle corresponding to the arc of the electrode 2 a be determined in accordance with the rotation angle allowed for the wiring member 2. In this case, a rotation stopper of the wiring member 2 may be provided on the housing 10 so that the wiring member 2 does not rotate beyond the allowable rotation angle.

  The present invention is capable of various embodiments and modifications without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the present invention. In addition, the embodiment described above is for explaining the present invention, and does not limit the scope of the present invention. That is, the scope of the present invention is indicated not by the embodiments but by the claims. And, various modifications applied within the scope of the claims and the meaning of the invention are considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

  The present invention can be applied to a signal transmission system including an electrical connector and a wiring member mounted in a device.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 signal transmission system, 2 wiring member, 2a electrode, 2b signal line, 2c through hole, 2d through hole, 2e reinforcing plate, 3, 3A, 3B electrical connector, 4 circuit board, 4a signal electrode, 10 housing, 11 contacts, 11a board connecting portion, 11b contacting portion, 11ba groove portion, 11c bottom side portion, 11d oblique side portion, 20 mounting table, 20a groove portion, 21 projecting portion, 21a screw hole, 22 slippage preventing portion, 22a bolt, 22b washer

Claims (9)

A signal transmission system comprising: a plate-like wiring member; and an electrical connector for connecting the wiring member to a circuit board,
An arc or annular electrode is provided at an end of the wiring member,
The electrical connector is
An insulating housing mounted on the circuit board and rotatably holding the wiring member around the center of a virtual circle along the shape of the electrodes;
A substrate connection portion fixed to the housing and connected to the signal electrode of the circuit board and a contact portion contacting the electrode of the wiring member held by the housing are provided, and the contact portion elastically presses the electrode A conductive contact configured to apply a force;
Signal transmission system comprising: In the wiring member, a plurality of the electrodes arranged concentrically are formed;
The electrical connector is provided with a plurality of the contacts which press and contact the individual electrodes one-on-one,
The signal transmission system according to claim 1. The plurality of contacts are arranged in a straight line passing through the rotation center of the wiring member, with a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the straight line.
The signal transmission system according to claim 2. In the plurality of contacts, the contact portions are disposed in a distributed manner in order of proximity to the rotation center of the wiring member with reference to the rotation center.
The signal transmission system according to claim 3. When the circuit board is viewed from the wiring member, in the adjacent contacts, the contacts are disposed such that the substrate connection portions are located on opposite sides of the contact portion.
The signal transmission system according to claim 3 or 4. The wiring member
A reinforcing plate is provided to reinforce an end provided with the electrode.
The signal transmission system according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The wiring member is provided with a through hole at the center of a virtual circle along the shape of the electrode,
The housing is
A mounting table on which the wiring member is mounted in a state of facing the surface on which the electrode is provided;
A columnar protrusion which protrudes from the mounting table and is engaged with the through hole of the wiring member and whose height protruding from the mounting table is larger than the thickness of the wiring member including the reinforcing plate;
Equipped with
The contact portion of the contact protrudes from the mounting table and presses the electrode of the wiring member to make contact.
The projecting portion is provided with a detachment preventing portion which prevents the through hole from coming off the projecting portion.
The signal transmission system according to claim 6. The contact portion of the contact is formed with a curved surface bent in a tangential direction of the electrode of the wiring member.
The signal transmission system according to any one of claims 1 to 7. An electrical connector for connecting, to a circuit board, a plate-like wiring member provided with arc-shaped or ring-shaped electrodes at its end.
An insulating housing mounted on the circuit board and rotatably holding the wiring member around the center of a virtual circle along the shape of the electrodes;
A substrate connection portion fixed to the housing and connected to the signal electrode of the circuit board and a contact portion contacting the electrode of the wiring member held by the housing are provided, and the contact portion elastically presses the electrode A conductive contact configured to apply a force;
An electrical connector comprising:

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